The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

particular benefit. For example, climate change 
impacts on marine capture fisheries are 
projected to be more significant in tropical 
regions of Africa and Asia, where warming is 
expected to decrease productivity. Targeted 
fisheries and aquaculture development 
interventions in these regions, addressing their 
specific needs for food, trade and livelihoods, 
can provide the transformational change we 
need to feed everyone, everywhere. 
Part of these targeted interventions is the 
recognition that most food systems affect the 
environment, but that there are trade-offs to 
ensure we improve food and nutrition security 
while minimizing the impacts on their supportive 
ecosystems. Fish and fisheries products are 
actually recognized not only as some of the 
healthiest foods on the planet, but also as some 
of the less impactful on the natural environment. 
For these reasons, they must be better considered 
in national, regional and global food security and 
nutrition strategies, and contribute to the 
ongoing transformation of food systems to ensure 
we eliminate hunger and malnutrition.
For FAO, 2020 is an important year in its history. 
It is the seventy-fifth anniversary of its creation – 
FAO is the oldest permanent specialized agency 
of the United Nations. It is also the twenty-fifth 
anniversary of the FAO Code of Conduct for 
Responsible Fisheries, the blueprint that has 
guided fisheries and aquaculture policy 
development around the world. However, there is 
no time for celebrations. These anniversaries 
remind us of the reason for our existence, they 
are calls to action, springboards for change, for a 
rapidly changing world in need of innovative and 
transformative solutions to old as well as new 
problems. As this report was being prepared, 
COVID-19 emerged as one of the greatest 
challenges that we have faced together since the 
creation of FAO. The deep socio-economic 
consequences of this pandemic will make our 
fight to defeat hunger and poverty harder and 
more challenging. As fisheries and aquaculture is 
one of the sectors most impacted by the 
pandemic, the baseline information provided in 
this report is already helping FAO respond with 
technical solutions and targeted interventions.
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture
is the 
only publication of its kind, which for years has 
provided technical insight and factual 
information on a sector crucial for societal 
success. Among other things, the report 
highlights major trends and patterns observed in 
global fisheries and aquaculture and scans the 
horizon for new and emerging areas that need to 
be considered if we are to manage aquatic 
resources sustainably into the future. I hope this 
edition will have even greater quantitative and 
qualitative impact than previous editions, making 
valuable contributions in helping us meet the 
challenges of the twenty-first century.
Qu Dongyu
FAO Director-General
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METHODOLOGY
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020
is the product of a 15-month process that began in 
March 2019. An editorial board was formed, made up of staff from the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture 
Department, supported by a core executive team including the Director of the FAO Fisheries and 
Aquaculture Department (FIA), five staff and consultants of the department’s Statistics and Information 
Branch, and a representative of the FAO Office of Corporate Communication. Chaired by the 
FIA Director, the editorial board met at regular intervals to plan the structure and content, refine 
terminology, review progress and address issues. 
The editorial board decided to modify the structure of the 2020 edition, and to retain the format and 
process of previous years only Part 1, World Review. Part 2 would be renamed Sustainability in Action, 
and focus on issues coming to the fore in 2019–2020. In particular, it would examine issues related to 
Sustainable Development Goal 14 and its indicators for which FAO is the “custodian” United Nations 
agency. Sections would cover various aspects of fisheries and aquaculture sustainability: assessing, 
monitoring, developing policies, securing, reporting and context. The editorial board also decided that 
Part 2 should open with a special section marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Code of Conduct 
for Responsible Fisheries (the Code) and reporting on the progress made since the Code’s adoption. Part 3 
would form the final part of the publication, covering projections (outlook) and emerging issues. 
This decision for a revised structure was based on feedback received from internal and external reviewers 
on the previous edition, including an on-line questionnaire. The revision was guided by the management 
of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, and benefited from inputs from the department’s 
different branches. This structure was approved by the department’s senior management. 
Between April and May 2019, department staff were invited to identify suitable topics and contributors for 
Parts 2 and 3, and the editorial board compiled and refined an outline of the publication. The process 
from planning through to review involved virtually all officers in the department at headquarters, while 
decentralized staff were invited to contribute regional stories. The revised structure was accompanied by 
a change in the authoring leadership for Part 2 – various editorial board members were each assigned 
responsibility for a theme containing at least two sections. Many FAO authors contributed (some to 
multiple sections), as did several authors external to FAO (see Acknowledgements).
In June 2019, a summary of Parts 2 and 3 was prepared with the inputs of all lead authors, and revised 
based on feedback from the editorial board. The summary document was submitted to the department’s 
management and the FAO Deputy Director-General, Climate and Natural Resources, for approval in June 
2019. This document then formed the blueprint guiding authors in the drafting of the publication.
Parts 2 and 3 were drafted between September and December 2019, edited for technical and language 
content, and submitted in January 2020 for review by FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department 
management, by external experts and by the editorial board.
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The world review in Part 1 is based on FAO’s official fishery and aquaculture statistics. To reflect the 
most up-to-date statistics available, this part was drafted in February–March 2020 upon annual closure of 
the various thematic databases in which the data are structured. The statistics are the outcome of an 
established programme to ensure the best possible information, including assistance to enhance 
countries’ capacity to collect and submit data according to international standards. The process is one of 
careful collation, revision and validation. In the absence of national reporting, FAO may make estimates 
based on the best data available from other sources or through standard methodologies.
A draft of the publication was sent for comments to other FAO departments and regional offices, and a 
final draft was submitted to the Office of the FAO Deputy Director-General, Climate and Natural 
Resources, and to the Office of the FAO Director-General for approval.
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